Hermann Behrends

{{Short description|German Nazi official (1907–1948)}}

{{About|the Nazi SS official|the Generalmajor|Hermann-Heinrich Behrend}}

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| image = Hermann Behrends.jpg

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1907|05|11|df=y}}

| birth_place = Rüstringen, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, German Empire

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| death_date = {{death date and age|1948|12|04|1907|05|11|df=y}}

| death_place = Belgrade, FPR Yugoslavia

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| alma_mater = Marburg University

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| years_active = 1932–1945

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| organization = Schutzstaffel

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| title = SS-Gruppenführer

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| criminal_charge = War crimes

| conviction_penalty = Death by hanging

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Hermann Johann Heinrich Behrends (11 May 1907 – 4 December 1948) was a Nazi Party member and SS official with the rank of lieutenant general (Gruppenführer).{{sfn|Miller|2006|p=90}}

Born in Rüstringen, Oldenburg, the son of a provincial innkeeper, he was educated to doctorate level in law at Marburg University but struggled to find employment in an economically depressed Weimar Germany.{{sfn|Lumans|1993|p=50}} He joined the Nazi Party in January 1932 and the SS the following month.{{sfn|Lumans|1993|pp=50–51}} With no military experience he initially floundered but soon attracted the attentions of Reinhard Heydrich, who valued academic expertise, and he was transferred to the Sicherheitsdienst (SD).{{sfn|Lumans|1993|p=51}}

Becoming a close friend of Heydrich, Behrends was the first chief of the SD in Berlin.{{sfn|Snyder|1994|p=242}} He also served as Chief of Staff to Werner Lorenz in his capacity as head of the Hauptamt Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VOMI).{{sfn|Lumans|1993|p=45}} During the Second World War he was sent to Yugoslavia to lead the regional arm of the VOMI.{{sfn|Snyder|1994|p=242}} His star had fallen somewhat after Heydrich's death as Heinrich Himmler was unimpressed by him, sensing that he was too ambitious.{{sfn|Lumans|1993|p=51}}

On 5 July 1945, he faced charges from the British services in Flensburg. He was interned with the number 560294 in the Island Farm Special Camp in Bridgend, South Wales.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}} On 16 April 1946 he was extradited to Yugoslavia. He was hanged in Belgrade on 4 December 1948.{{sfn|Snyder|1994|p=242}}